1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an inlay sole for shoes, consisting of sole parts of different Shore hardness, wherein, at abutting edges, the width of which edges corresponds to the thickness of the sole parts, said sole parts are interlocked with each other in sinuously conjoining manner by means of projections and matching recesses, such that the projections form extensions that engage undercuts in the recesses, the inlay sole consisting of a plurality of layers of thus assembled sole parts.
2. Description of Background Art
Such inlay soles are often used to provide a pleasant contact between the shoe and the wearer's foot, for which purpose an especially elastic material is employed for the inlay sole. Such elasticity is referred to in known manner as Shore hardness. Inlay soles are additionally used for therapeutic purposes, more particularly in order to provide especially soft cushioning at certain points, for which purpose an especially soft material is then inserted into the inlay sole at the relevant point.
In a heel bed confined to the heel according to DE-GBM 298 06 187.2, the material of the heel bed is provided in the region of an existing heel spur with a sunk-in cushion which does not project out of the heel bed, i.e. which forms virtually an even surface with the heel bed. Said cushion has greater elasticity than the material of the heel bed, with the result that a heel spur is cushioned by a suitably soft region of the heel bed without a particularly high pressure being exerted on the heel spur. The cushion, which is sunk into the material of the heel bed, transitions via a serrated edge into the material of the heel bed, thereby providing a transitional zone between the cushion and the material of the heel bed in which, owing to said interlocking, the elasticity is perceived by the wearer as a transition of elasticity.
An inlay sole having the initially indicated design features is presented in FIGS. 9 and 10 of EP 1 593 360 A2, it being mentioned in the description that individual soles can be laid one on the other. The abutting sole parts have different mechanical characteristics, this allowing them to be adapted to particular needs of the person wearing shoes with such inlay soles. Where identical soles of identical inner design are laid one on the other, this results, in comparison with just one sole, at the superposed abutting edges of the sole parts in a correspondingly abrupt transition of hardness which is especially perceptible for the wearer.